Sunburn
by Yami Y666
Summary: The gang spend a day at the beach, but love and passion might not be able to overcome the confrontation ahead. Do your worst fears ever die? Rated for sensual situations! [YYY, YBB, SJ, TS]
1. I Need a Vacation

**A/N**

**Note: **I'm going to be doing a bit of revising with this story. Thankfully, my writing has improved to the point and now I can't stand to see my earlier trials. So yeah, please _**review**_ if you're reading this and tell me if my edits mean anything. Thanks a lot!

* * *

**

* * *

SUNBURN

* * *

**

**

* * *

**

**Chapter 1: I Need a Vacation**

Yuugi couldn't stop the giggles as he raced around the car to the driver's side and helped Yami out of the car. Today was already shaping up to be a very good one and he couldn't wait to see how it could get better.

Sun shining brightly overhead, wind blowing gently in his face, and Yuugi could already hear the ocean over the next rise of hills. Oh yes, he was going to have some fun on this trip. And it was Mokuba who had suggested it; who knew the kid could come up with such a decent idea?

But...Where were the rest of the gang? Yuugi squinted back up the road he and Yami had come by, and mentally checked the list of people who were supposed to show up.

There was Joey and Seto, of course. They'd only recently gotten together, much to the chagrin of the CEO's fanclub but also to the great joy of Yuugi and the rest of his friends. They were supposed to be transportation for the others, who didn't have a ride.

Bakura and Ryou were coming as well. They'd been the second to accept the invitation, after Yuugi and Yami, and had found the Rent-A-Beach company that had rented out the secluded cove to them, for the day. And Seto had put it all on the company's tab, to their surprise. Then again, he _was_ with Joey, now.

Serenity and Tristan had come, too. Upon hearing about the outing from her brother, Serenity had jumped at the chance to spend some time with her new boyfriend. They'd also just begun seeing each other as well; Joey found this extremely funny. Everyone had known that each had liked the other...Except the ones in question. Serenity had been oblivious to Tristan's hints and he'd begun to suspect another of harboring her affections. It had taken some drastic help and pointing out of some really obvious things by their friends but Serenity and Tristan had gotten together in the end.

Of course, news of said outing had spread to Teá and Mai, who had become quite the shopping duo since all of the events, and they'd naturally invited themselves, too. After all, it's not a get-together unless you have everyone, right?

So, here Yami and Yuugi were, at the beach and waiting for everyone to show up so they could, in the words of Joey, "Get this party started".

Giving up on watching for their friends, Yuugi left that task to Yami and ran around to the trunk of their car.

Yami watched in amusement as Yuugi attempted to carry the abnormally large basket, stuffed with all the things that Teá had commanded them to bring to the beach. But Yami plucked it out of his hands before its contents could fall to the ground. Teá would NOT be happy if they showed up without her things, and they had learned the hard way how scary that could be.

Right then, a large van, with teenagers practically hanging out the windows, pulled in alongside Yami's car. A loud groan sounded from the van as it protested the weight, and the doors were thrown back.

"Hey guys!" Yuugi called, and smiled as the three couples chorused a greeting. Yami, counting the people, frowned. "Where's Teá and Mai?"

"Oh, they're coming in another car." Joey grinned. "We did offer our ride, but they turned it down. Said something about being stuck with us for an hour would kill them."

Seto laughed as he came up behind them. "They took Mokuba, too. I'm guessing they should be here in a couple of minutes."

Yami gasped. "You're actually guessing? What, no fancy inventions to do it for you?"

"Oh, shut up. Joey took away my laptop." At this, Joey grinned and hugged Seto from behind.

Ryou cut in, urging them to hurry towards the beach, and Yuugi raced ahead of all of them, giggling once again. Joey suddenly realized that Yuugi was acting strangely hyper and grabbed him as he elbowed past.

"Yuugi..." His voice was suspicious. " Have you had any sugar lately?"

"Maybe I have and maybe I haven't," Yuugi giggled as he squirmed in Joey's grip, "I guess you'll have to find out!"

The rest of them just stared as Joey raced off after Yuugi across the beach; all they could do was shake their heads.

"Every time, eh?" Bakura grinned and Yami sighed.

"Every time," He confirmed as Yuugi tripped over something in the distance and went sprawling in the sand; they all put on appropriate expressions of sympathy as Yuugi glanced back at them.

"Yoohoo!" Someone shouted behind them. "Hey guys!"

They turned to see Mai and Teá waving at them as they jogged over. Ryou smiled, "Looks like we're all here, then."

"Big brother!" Mokuba yelled and hurtled towards Seto, slamming into him and sending the CEO sprawling in a very unbusiness-like manner. Spotting Yuugi further down the beach he jumped up and ran after him, yelling a greeting.

"Hey Yami, are those circles under your eyes?" Mai teased, knowing full well that the former pharaoh would _never_ suffer from something as common as lack of sleep. Yami tensed up for a moment but then a smirk overcame his features.

"It was all worth it," He assured her. "It was _all_ worth it."

Ryou, who'd been listening in on this exchange, spoke up. "Hey 'Kura? What's Yami talking about?"

Immediately, Bakura clamped his hands over Ryou's ears and lifted him off the ground. Sprinting away, he called back at the other spirit. "How _dare_ you fill his innocent little head with such things?"

His reply was only a laugh as everyone continued to make their way along the shore.

* * *

**XxX

* * *

**

"Yami, figure out a way to shut him up or I will!" Seto threatened Yami, receiving a wack from Joey, while Yuugi continued recounting a list of all the times he'd bested Kaiba (With Yami's help of course, but he was ignoring that detail for the time being).

"...Oh yeah, and in that American card game Joey taught us! What was it...Oh yeah, Go Fish! And in that board game that Ryou brought back from Britain. Ryou, what was it called?..."

Seto just continued to pout, to Joey's amusement and the rest of the group's, as Yuugi's list got longer and longer. Finally, even Yami couldn't hold back his laughter, and tempting the disgruntled businessman didn't seem such a good thing so he did the only other thing currently on his mind.

Leaning over, he tapped Yuugi's shoulder and broke his concentration, but before he could say anything else, Yami planted a kiss on his lips that left Yuugi blushing and breathless.

"You want to continue this privately?" He whispered huskily in Yuugi's ear, who could only reply with a nod. They excused themselves and made their way back to where they'd parked the car earlier.

Meanwhile, Ryou and Bakura had walked down to the water and sat down in the small waves lapping the shore. Bakura had proceeded to take Ryou's and pull him on his lap.

Ryou gasped and squirmed, very conscious of the fact that their friends were somewhere up the beach behind them. He would have said something too, if Bakura hadn't pulled him into such a kiss, that it left him senseless and wanting more. Finally, Ryou and Bakura had seemed to realize the impression they were making and moved further down the beach and out of sight.

Once they was gone, Seto turned to his own boyfriend, only to find that Joey had wandered off and was enjoying the sun, lying in the warm sand, half-buried.

Joey opened his eyes as he felt a shadow over him and smiled. Seto stood there with a feral grin on his face and a glint in his eye. He didn't even know what was coming until Seto pushed him into the sand and straddled him. Joey could feel the desire in Seto's kiss and hungry hands and returned the passion in kind.

Suddenly, he stood up with Seto in his arms, making him gasp in delight and surprise. Searching for that special place he'd seen on their way down towards the beach, Joey spun Seto around, whose feet didn't reach the ground, and set off at a run.

Serenity and Tristan had disappeared sometime during these happenings as well and the only people who'd stuck with the original idea of staying on the beach were Mai and Teá, who sat enjoying the sun and each others' company. They'd already realized that Mokuba had wandered away some time ago, and just left it as Seto's fault.

"They all seem to have gone and left us alone," Teá observed, amused.

"Darling, if it's one thing I know," Mai explained, "It's that everyone enjoys the beach in different ways. In our friends' cases, they clearly like to relax and take it easy!" She said with a laugh.

"They're relaxing alright," Teá agreed, and they resumed their sunbathing with happy thoughts.


	2. Bonfires

**Notes:** I'd like to thank EVERYONE who's been reviewing! I know I'm not the only one whose face lights up when I see that my fan fiction has been reviewed!

I've changed the plot of this story because I felt that it was heading in a different direction but I might still choose to make a separate story about the previous plot. I'm keeping the name though, because I think it's fitting. Please let me know what you think! Enjoy!

**CH 3 Bonfires**

Evening had already fallen when the group was finally back together. Someone had come up with the bright idea, probably Joey, that they should gather twigs and built up a bonfire on the sand.

So the group had trekked around the beach and come up with a handful of pitiful twigs that couldn't even begin to resemble a bonfire. Tea and Mai had teamed up and come up with just a few sticks as they had been chatting the entire time, and the only other group who'd gotten less was Set's group because Mokuba had tagged along wit him and Joey. But he had been much unwanted and Seto had been bickering with Mokuba, as siblings do, while Joey had been left to collect firewood and he was NOT known for his woodsman prowess…which explained the measly pile of wood they brought back as well.

The other couples managed to bring a bit more firewood back but it still wasn't enough to start a fire so Yami proposed that he light the fire with his dark magic. This caused a giggle from Yuugi, who was sitting in his lap.

"You light _my_ fire," Yuugi whispered in Yami's ear, who chuckled quietly and grabbed Yuugi's waist where no one could see. Yuugi relaxed in Yami's embrace and snuggled against him.

Everyone else in the group seemed fine with the idea so Yami closed his eyes, comforted by his Hikari's presence, and formed a fire, black as night, in his mind. Transferring it to reality was the tricky part because right now, the fire was in his soul room. Yami grabbed the smoking tendrils that seemed to be reaching for the light and suddenly pulled with his mind. He exhaled and blew out smoke.

Suddenly the firewood the group had gathered burst into bright, orange flame and the heat washed over them. All sighed in contentment, and visibly relaxed. Most could be seen drinking in the warmth of being with friends and the fire alike in the arms of their loved one, and all was calm.

Yet, one sat with this group and felt restless and bored.

Mokuba shifted positions again and tried to get comfortable. But this was getting increasingly difficult as he felt surprisingly frustrated, looking at his older friends as they spoke a secret language that only those in love seemed to understand.

I don't understand why I can't feel the same way they do, Mokuba thought, annoyed. But his mood darkened as his discomfort worsened and finally he decided:

If I can't enjoy this boring silence, he thought, then _no one_ can!

The romantic mood was ended abruptly when Mokuba spoke up in an extremely loud voice, as if purposely shattering this perfect illusion created by the fire and the couples' love for each other.

"Let's do something fun!" Mokuba called and ended the last of the reverie with his suggestion.

"I say we all play a game!" Mokuba thought a minute and said, "Let's play Hide-and-Seek! But let's not play the normal way, let's spice things up!"

When everyone began a refusal, Mokuba put on a hopeful face and said:

"It's the only game I ever learned to play before the other kids starting hating me…"

Oblivious as ever, Joey took the bait:

"What are you talking about, Mokuba? Why would other kids hate you?"

"Because Seto became famous and the other kids starting treating me differently…"

At this point, Seto began to feel guilty and so agreed to play while giving the rest of the group the evil eye, so that they joined as well.

As they couples began talking amongst themselves about how to make the game more interesting, no one noticed the dark smile that turned up Mokuba's lips.


	3. Games

Notes: Hi there! Sorry but I forgot to mention that in CH 1, Yuugi's sugar high came from Princess Nefartari AKA Krysta, who was the most recent (and awesome) user of this idea.(Unless you thought it up, cause I've seen this idea on other fanfics published before yours )

Notes2: Summer School over in 3 days! Almost over and then I can review and post more often!

**CH 4 Games**

"48...49...50!" Mokuba counted out loud.

He had volunteered to be the seeker and everyone had readily agreed, already thinking how to spend the time, waiting in their ingenious hiding spots for him to find them.

Unfortunately, almost all of them had underestimated him, and for that, Mokuba was grateful, as he had a certain surprise in store for the group.

Yuugi struggled to hold him giggles in for probably the tenth time. Some lingering traces of sugar were still in his system and the proximity of his boyfriend wasn't doing anything to better the situation.

Yami looked at him again as Yuugi halted his giggles for what seemed the millionth time. At this rate, they were going to be the first group to be found. Currently, they were hiding in the branches of an old oak tree which had extremely thick leaves. The only way to see them was if the seeker was standing directly underneath them, and with the noise Yuugi was making, that was quite a possibility.

So Yami, in the spirit of the game (as well as for his own reasons), reached over and silenced Yuugi was a kiss that quickly became passionate. Forgetting the game and everything around him, Yami was intoxicated by Yuugi once again. Yuugi responded in kind and reached for Yami through the branches of the tree.

Entwined in the tree and each others' arms, they forgot the world and the world forgot them; So had they dissappeared, that Mokuba didn't notice them as he walked underneath, and continued his search.

The rules of the game had been decided earlier around the bonfire. The seeker wouldn't stop looking until all the groups and people were found. This was the simple part; From there, the group had been carried away by their imagination and competitive natures and set up twists and turns in the game should a group be found. The major points were as follows:

1. The players would hide in groups of two.

2. If a group wasn't found by dawn, then they automatically won the game.

3. The team found first had until the seeker counted to 20 to reach the safe zone, which was the ruins of the old temple in the center of the forest on the beach.

4. The partners who were tagged became "Zombies" and followed the seeker around, looking for the rest of the crew.

5. The players who won the game were awarded the prize given by the seeker, in this case, Mokuba.

Mokuba smiled to himself. It had been relatively easy to convince them to play what seemed to be a harmless game of Hide-and-Seek. But would they think that once they had experienced his version of the game, he wondered. The kids at school did shun him, he thought, but not for the reasons he had told Joey. They had also played his games and quickly realized that he didn't play by the normal rules. Painfully, they had learned their lesson about "Messing with the Kaibas".

Mokuba allowed himself a quite chuckle, he didn't want to warn any nearby hiders of his presence. He wouldn't start seeking now. Oh no, he had to set up the surprise first.

But the entire group would learn soon enough not to pick on the younger Kaiba brother. It was about time Seto gave him some attention and recognized him as his equal.

Mokuba was so sick and tired of his treatment by the group. He was NOT little, anymore. And it was time they knew it.


	4. Start

Notes: To Princess Nefartari AKA Krysta-Really? You've not been mentioned anywhere? Well then, I guess I'll have to do it for all of those forgetful fanfiction authors and readers! ()

**EVERYONE, LISTEN UP! IF YOU WANT TO READ QUALITY YUUGIOU (YU-GI-OH!) FANFICTION, GO TO PRINCESS NEFARTARI AKA KRYSTA'S  SITE (FOUND IN MY REVIEWS AND FAVORITES) AND READ HER STUFF! IT'LL BLOW YOUR SOCKS OFF!**

...how's that for subtle encouragement?

Enjoy!

* * *

**CH 5 ...Start!**

Mokuba had finally reached the temple after some serious thought along the way as to how he was going to carry out his plans. But you can't think how you are going to foil your victims without thinking of THEM, and Mokuba was also doing plenty of that.

They think I didn't know, they think "Little Mokuba" is too innocent to catch on. But oh, how they were wrong! I know SPECIFICALLY what happens behind all those closed doors. I don't understand why I should be left out of the loop., Mokuba thought angry, clenching his fists.

I'm not the young and niave kid I used to be! And they have the NERVE not to even TRUST me with the truth, Mokuba's anger began to think for him now, They deserve what's coming for them. It's for the good of themselves as well as for me.

He slid open the door to the dark interior of the temple and dissappeared into the blackness inside.

* * *

"Bakura! Now is SO not the time!" Ryou whispered to his boyfriend, who was currently expressing his insatiable sexual hunger on Ryou's neck.

Bakura could only manage a husky moan in reply to Ryou's outburst before he tipped him on his back in the bushes and proceeded to trace his jawline and throat with his tongue.

Ryou managed to resist him for all of a moment before he too succumbed to Bakura's demands and responded with equal enthusiam. It was times like this that Ryou was of one mind with his yami that the whole world should go away so they could enjoy the moment.

And that thought jerked Ryou back to reality and he remembered why they had to be extremely quiet. It took all of his strength to pry off the now pouting Bakura, and check the temple again. He sighed in relief that they hadn't been discovered and turned back to Bakura.

"It's Mokuba!" Ryou lied. Immediately, he was pulled into Bakura's lap so he could get a better view of the temple.

They had decided to hide out near the temple to have the best chance to get to the safe zone should they be discovered. And to try their hand at figuring out the surprise, which now seemed impossible as demonstrated by Mokuba's entry into the temple.

"Where?" demanded Bakura. "Are you blind? Or are you seeing things?"

Ryou secretly rolled his eyes in the dark and answered in an innocent voice.

"He just went inside the temple. Sorry, but you missed him," Ryou managed.

Realizing he wasn't going to see anything, Bakura turned around to look at Ryou and suudenly remembered what they had been doing earlier.

"W-why are you looking at me like that, Bakura?" Ryou asked nervously, very much aware of his lover's hungry gaze. "Bakura...w-we need to be QUIET, ok? We can't make any noise! W-we want to win, remember?"

"Quiet it is," Bakura replied huskily and pounced on Ryou.

* * *

Meanwhile, Seto and Joey were expressing their own rather formidable sex drives, hidden from immediate view in the cave of the cliff on the beach. Both had found that spot during their earlier excertions and had wanted to come back and check it out.

When Mokuba had offered to play that game, they had found the perfect excuse to sneak away and "explore". Although they WERE exploring, it was each other, NOT the cave.

Once again, Joey let out a moan of desire that echoed in their small cave and Seto laughed and covered his mouth. Joey responded with darting his tongue between Seto's fingers, and when Seto gasped in surprise and loosened his hold, Joey jumped at the chance and moved his mouth to Seto's chest.

Seto responded with a moan of his own and another laugh that bordered on a giggle. Joey smirked in the dark, aware of the sensations he was giving, until Seto realized what was going on.

So, Seto decided it was time HE was on top! Wrapping a leg around Joey's in a way that was suggestive, Seto caught him by surprise when he pulled and they both rolled over, this time with Seto being the top half.

Once again, they resumed their exploration of each other's bodies and completely forgot the game and all the rules.

* * *

Inevitably, Tristan and Serenity where fighting passion as well, in their own little hideaway on the other side of the beach. They had both worn light-colored clothing that in the moonlight, looked remarkably like the sand. So, Serenity had come up with the idea that they cover themselves with the sand, still warm from the day's sun and use it as camoflauge.

Tristan had immediately agreed, but he would have said yes to anything to be alone with her. The game had presented the perfect opportunity for them to continue their earlier "discussion", they jokingly called their make-out sessions.

Now, both were thankful that had full reign of the beach as they made use of it! Rolling around and switching dominating roles, they were active lovers and this was the perfect time to become passionate and wild.

Once more, they rolled over and stopped with Serenity on top. The usually quiet and poised girl had become wild in the moonlight, as Tristan was quick to discover. In the first few minutes what she had started doing had turned him senseless and he had only been to eager to return the favor.

And now Serenity began exploring his back with her hands and tongue. Tracing his well-definded muscles with her hands and following her hands with her tongue. But as much as she was enjoying giving her boyfriend pleasure, it didn't last long.

Suddenly flipping her over, causing her to let out a small squeal, Tristan asserted his dominance by brushing butterfly kisses down her neck and onto her chest which turned her limp with the sensations he was giving her.

She found herself letting out a side of herself she had locked away ever since her and Joey's parents split up. She finally felt able to express herself without fear of being rejected, as she had felt with her family.

She told all this to Tristan during a pause in their love-making while they regained their breath. He had responded with a loving and gentle kiss that reminded her why he was hers and hers alone, they were perfect for each other.

* * *

The only people even pretending they were still playing the game were Tea and Mai...and that was quickly being forgotten. They two had realized how much they had in common and had continued their earlier conversation in the branches of a VERY old pine tree, high in the branches. They were certain to not be heard and enjoyed musing on what the others were doing at that moment and if they could be possibly having as much fun as them.

Both guess correctly at what the rest of the group could be engaging in and now had fun trying to figure out who would focus on what body part.

The only thing that gave them away was their giggles drifting down among the trees, spreading gaiety and amusement to the rest of the groups, who enjoyed hearing them periodically.

* * *

Of course, Mokuba had already known where all of them would hide.

Once again, they underestimate me! Mokuba thundered in his mind, itching to set up his plan and get it moving.

The night was concluding and soon..he mused, they would know his intellect, especially his brother.

* * *

**Notes2**: Final for summer school are tommorow! I can't wait! Bear with me here! 


	5. Ridiculous

**CH 6 Ridiculous**

Now this was just ridiculous, thought Yami. Not that he was complaining, but it seemed like they had been hiding here, in the now uncomfortable tree, for a VERY long time.

But then again, it had presented the perfect oppurtunity to have a repeat of the day's earlier activities, and Yami and Yuugi had jumped at the chance. Now, they had reached the point where it was either complete what they had started or reign in their passion and go find out what was happening.

Right now, they were leaning dangerously close to the former of just once again forgetting everything except their desires at that moment and showing how much they wanted each other.

A branch snapped in the dark near the tree, and broke the trance-like state that their lust had induced. This always happened; When they started to break free the sexual walls, the world just seemed to dim around them and sometimes...that had dangerous affects.

**XXXXFlashbackXXXXX**

Like the time they had gone shopping at Domino's most expensive men's clothing store, Men's Apparel...and the sight of each other in tailored clothes had unexpected effects. The both of them had barely managed to keep their hands to themselves through the fittings but when they were left alone in the dressing room, all passion broke loose.

Yami and swiftly pulled Yuugi into a searing kiss as he pushed him against the mirror. Yuugi hitched his breath and returned Yami's passion with equal eagerness. Their activities continued as they found their way to the fitting room and fell down on the plush couch in there.

The sexy, formal clothes only added to their excitement as each proceeded to undress the other with tantilizing carefuless and slowly took of each garment. The heat between them increased with the more skin they exposed and when all the clothes were off, Yami pounced on Yuugi, devouring him with completeness.

Yuugi only barely managed to keep from drowning in the sensations Yami was giving him. Needless to say, he was dazed beyond coherent thought. When he couldn't bare it anymore, Yuugi pushed Yami over and they switched roles, now with Yuugi on top.

Yami faired no better than Yuugi and it was soon he who was struggling to keep his mind together. Yuugi was not at ALL as innocent as he seemed at first glance. The countless number of times Yuugi had let his wild side out during their sexual escapades proved that.

Yuugi's exterior hid a naughtiness and wild way that was only shown to Yami, whose mind was blown away every time. Yuugi was up for anything and even invented new things for them to try, making their mind-blowing sex even MORE mind-blowing, if that was possible.

The two had become so wrapped up in each other, they didn't notice the poor attendant that came in 5 minutes later to check up on them...and found the two shoppers engaged in SERIOUS activities, wearing only their boxers.

Yami and Yuugi were shaken out of their passions by her startled squeak followed by a crash as she tripped over the stand next to the mirror and fell over. While Yuugi began blushing bright red and hid in Yami's chest as he smirked and turned his head toward the attendant, who was furiously blushing.

As if nothing was out of the ordinary, Yami had inquired as to what she needed.

"W-well, I guess i-it can wait. I'll j-just wait out h-here." And with that she scurried away without a backward glance at the pair, Yuugi still pressed against the wall.

A couple of minutes later, the couple had emerged from the store, loaded with shopping bags and turned back to see a waving staff...all except for one attendant, who had her still-blushing face in her hands.

**XXXXEnd FlashbackXXXXX**

Yuugi giggled at the memory and Yami quietly chuckled before giving Yuugi another kiss.

Reluctantly, they decided to forsake the game in favor of finding out what was actually going on. Yami slithered down the trunk until he reached the ground safely and looked back up to help Yuugi down.

What he saw was Yuugi expertly grappling branches and swinging down to the ground right in front of Yami, who had his jaw open. Yuugi smiled under his stare.

"When you have bullies mercilessly come after you," he explained, trying to joke and failing miserably. "You learn to climb ANYTHING to stay ahead of them."

Immediately, Yami was reminded of Yuugi's life before Yami had come into his life thanks to the puzzle. They each spent a moment staring at the other, lost in each others' eyes over the past and how they had ended up together and in separate bodies, in the present.

Both were extremely thankful for their being able to be together as they were, even with all the challenged and hardships they had faced on the way.

After a minute of reminescing, they came back to the present and set off to find the others, with Yami putting a protective arm around Yuugi.

**XXXXXXXXX**

Meanwhile, Bakura and Ryou had realized the same thing and were painstakingly making their way through the forest. They had decided to also forget the game, as it had become suspicious when, as far as Bakura could tell Ryou, no one had been found.

Seeking the rest of the hiding couples, Bakura and Ryou set off, away from the temple and back into the dark depths of the surrounding forest.

The reason for their slowness, was the fact that Ryou would jump at the slightest noise. He really wasn't used to this unnerving quiet of the woods and much preferred the city, where everything was loud and boisterous and noisy.

In the embrace of the dark and oppressing trees, he found himself seeking refuge in Bakura's arms, who was fully enjoying it and even encouraging Ryou's jumpiness.

While Ryou was bein paranoid, Bakura was reveling in the night around them. Afterall, he had been born a tomb robber and lived in shadows for most of his life. He was most at home in the dark allies of the city or the oppressing silence of the woods...or the stale underground tombs of Egypt.

In these parts, HE was the hunter and everything else was the HUNTED, Bakura smiled menacingly in the darkness.

Unfortunately for Ryou, Bakura had purposefully taken the more difficult and shadowy paths to scout for danger..he was actually LOOKING for trouble.

The amount of creepiness and silence that was filling this neck of the woods was terrifying poor Ryou, who was finding it increasingly difficult to hold on to his sanity and not run screaming. The only thing stopping him was Bakura's reassuring, if eager, bulk beside him.

The couple had been progressing for over half an hour in relative silence when from somewhere to the side, there was a large..

SNAP!

**XXXXXXXXX**

**Notes: **Alright, now that summer school is out, I have more free time!...And no more excuses to not post faster! Well...we'll see ;). Ok, I'm also gonna be asking for more reviews so I can actually see what needs fixing in this fic and what direction it should be going.

So please review and give me a heads up as to what you guys think should happen! Mmmmk?

Also, I'd like to thank all those who have been reading and reviewing faithfully! You guys rock!

Toodles, much luv!


	6. Shall We?

**Notes: **Ok, well I have the rest of the story planned out! So thanks for the suggestions from all of you, but no more please! I've got it covered! Hurray, my muse is BACK!

**Notes2**: Sorry this took so long, I had trouble with how I wanted to layout the story to be and what I should reveal. Well needless to say, I'm almost done writing the whole story! Hehe, I know the ending and you don't! (This is so fun ) But the ending will have to wait, and remember, the more reviews I get, the faster you'll get the chapters! I think there are about 4-5 chapter left of this fanfic. XD On with the story!

* * *

**CH 7 Shall we?**

"Bakura, hold me! This is the end, I know it! We never should have agreed to this game! I TOLD you I had a bad feeling!" Ryou shouted, eyes shut tight and in the embrace of his boyfriend, who was looking confusedly at the object of their demise. "This is all YOUR fault, Bakura! I never should have agreed to this dangerous game! Aaaaah!"

Still oblivious as to what was going on, Ryou kept screaming, between intervals burying himself in Bakura's shirt. After a couple of minutes when nothing had changed except that he had run out of breathe, blind panic receeded from the pale boy and he loosened his hold on his lover. It was then that he realized that Bakura had not run from the spot, or gone to attack whatever had approached them.

_That could only mean that we aren't in danger_, he thought sheepishly.

Slowly, Ryou turned around in his amused boyfriend's arms...

And found an alarmed and wide-eyed Yuugi staring back at him, with a smiling Yami standing behind him. Ryou wasted no time in giving Bakura a blow upside the head.

"Why didn't you tell me who it was instead of letting me nearly die of a heart attack!" Ryou demanded to a surprised Bakura.

"Because it was nice having you so close to me," He whispered in Ryou's ear, who blushed and tried to bring his attention back on Yami and Yuugi, who were now exchanging looks. This only made Ryou blush harder before they turned their attention back to them.

Yami broke the silence in his usual way, by assuming control. He brought the other pair up to speed on what he and Yuugi thought was going on with this game and what they should do.

"Now, we need to gather the rest of our friends and go find out where Mokuba went to, are we clear?" Yami stated, not really expecting an answer to his question.

He marched off at the head of their procession with Yuugi encircled protectively around his waist, in his embrace. They were followed a little ways behind by Bakura and Ryou, quietly conferring as to what they thought was happening, still-skittish Ryou surrounded by Bakura's possessive arms.

**XXXXXXXXX**

Ten minutes later, the foursome found themselves outside a small cave in the cliff on the beach. They had heard distant sounds coming from this direction as they had trudged through the woods and perhaps a scream.

Fearing the worst, they had hurried over here to see what was wrong...And embarassingly realized that the sound and screams they had heard where the moans and cries of sensual passion. Ryou and Yuugi visibly reddened while their darker counterparts began to have naughty thoughts and an increasingly difficult time trying to control themselves.

Finally, realizing someone had to get the couple's attention inside the cave, Yuugi had bent down, picked up a small rock, and thrown it into the dark interior.

They heard a muffled yelp and a throaty laugh and a couple of minutes later, Joey and Seto emerged from the cave. They looked presentable overall but when individual details were picked out, the whole ensemble went to pieces. A torn collar here, a rip up a sleeve there..The couple's clothes were barely holding together; They had been THAT passionate. The rest of the group noticed this with barely concealed amusement.

Seto managed to turn the attention to the remaining players of the game and away from his and Joey's appearance and so they trudged off warily down the beach.

Yuugi was the first to run over a large sand dune and was quickly followed by Yami. Both returned a minute later, a blushing Yuugi towing a smug Dark. Before anyone could ask, Yuugi blurted out a warning.

"I think Joey should wait here, and Yami will go get Tristan and Serenity!" Yuugi let out in a high-pitched voice.

"Why me!" Demanded Yami while a suspicious expression crossed Joey's face. Seto took this all in with a knowing look on his face.

"Hey Joey, I have a good idea. Let's leave everything to them, shall we?" Seto suggested while his hand moved down lower on Joey's back. Helplessly, Joey gave in to him and with a sigh, allowed Yami to go get his sister, who was dragging his protesting hikari behind him.

**XXXXXXXXX**

Serenity couldn't think coherent thoughts anymore, and by the sound of it, neither could Tristan. Both were on the point of forgetting everything and showing their love for each other right there and then on the beach. Abruptly, a familiar voice cut through their senses.

"Hey! If _we_ can't have some fun, then neither can you!" shouted an indignant Yuugi from behind Yami as they made their way down to the couple. Both sat up with a gasp and Serenity immediately blushed, looking around for her brother.

Seeing her searching look, Yami answered:

"Don't worry Serenity, your brother is occupied with more...pressing...matters," He said with a grin while Yuugi giggled behind him.

Gathering their thoughts, and clothes, the couple followed Yami's lead back to the group. Yuugi filled them in while they walked and Tristan added his thoughts.

"How can you be so sure that this isn't what Mokuba WANTS to happen?" Tristan asked, still skeptical. "It would be very easy to find us all, now that we're together and all."

"I cannot sense Mokuba's aura," Yami called from up front. "Something must be blocking it."

Serenity's eyes widened in fear and she scooted closer to her boyfriend, her apprehension had increased twofold since hearing all this and she was becoming quite reluctant to continue.

Yuugi's voice called back from Yami's embrace:

"Don't worry! I'm sure we'll solve everything in the end! We _always_ come through!" He said cheerfully.

**XXXXXXXXX**

Stealthily, the growing group padded through the forest on silent feet. Periodically, their whispers could be heard on the wind, communicating the negatives of finding Tea and Mai.

Yami was growing frustrated and was contemplating shouting out their names, and thereby proclaiming their location to the whole forest, when a pinecone hit him from behind and silenced him.

He turned around to scold his playful tenshi when he realized that Yuugi was nowhere in sight. Yami gave a quiet growl in annoyance and turned back to the hunt.

Then, another pinecone hit him, this one bouncing off his head before hitting his millenium puzzle, hanging around his neck, with a _twing._

Yami looked up in annoyance, just in time to be hit by a large pine branch, falling from above. It was then that he heard the welcome voices of a complaining Mai and a retorting Tea.

A sudden snap and Yami found himself looking at Tea, who was grinning, and Mai, who sat on the ground, rubbing her sore bottom.

It seemed that they had gotten bored of sitting in the tree and decided to give up on the game and go tan under the moonlight. Yuugi made his appearance from a nearby tree and scratched his head in confusion.

"How can you tan by the moonlight? Don't you need the sun for that?' He asked.

"Silly Yuugi, don't you know that the moonlight IS the reflection of the sun's rays?" Mai admonished while Tea nodded in the background.

Yuugi gave up and returned to his lover's embrace, which was becoming tighter and tighter because of Yami's annoyance at their pace.

Five minutes later, the pairs met back on the forest path and decided their next course of action. As usual, the ever-competitive Bakura asked a sudden question.

"Wait a minute...So who won the game?" He demanded while a slap echoed through the forest as an exasperated Ryou smacked his own forehead.

Yami's eyes narrowed and he prepared to battle it out to be declared the winner while Yuugi tried to restrain him. Joey emitted a dog-like growl from deep in his throught and Seto rolled his eyes in amusement. And Tristan let out a protested cry while Serenity waved her hands in front of his face, trying to get his attention.

A heated "discussion" ensued in which the angry whispers of the competitors could be heard. Pretty soon, the debate had turned into another name-calling fight and the debaters had to be restrained by their respective partners.

It was Yuugi who figured out a way to end this fight.

"Why don't we just make _Mokuba_ the winner?" Yuugi suggested to a chorus of "_Huh?"_s. "After all, it _was_ his idea and I'm sure it would make him happy!"

He looked around hopefully at the group and finally, they all agreed to it after much muttering from Bakura and Yami.

...But no one was expecting what Mokuba had in store for them.

* * *

Review Please! Much luv to all of you who have been reviewing! You know who you are! 


	7. Endless Falling

**Notes:** Aren't I just the evil one? Hehe, sorry for being mean but it's fun to be the one who's not being pressed inwards and feeling on the verge of pulling out your own hair because you don't know what's happening next (hint hint, nudge nudge Nefertari...) So I guess I'm just enjoying this and trying to get the most satisfaction out of it while I can...XD

So, hopefully, y'all will be satisfied by the progress made in _this _chapter. I'm finally on my way to revealing the secret behind Mokuba...Heh, well...you'll see... There won't be THAT much space between this and the next chapter. I want to avoid the wrath of the reader (Believe I know about those...Hell, I like to START them!)

It's funny...I had this all planned out but my hands STILL refuse to write the way I want them too, they keep changing the story! I don't even KNOW what I'm going to write before I actually DO!

**Notes2:** Oh, and I DO NOT enjoy writing sad and angsty bits about my favorite characters! Don't worry, love with conquer all in the end!..As it should!

* * *

**CH 8 Falling**

"That's it?" Ryou managed in a strangled voice before ducking under the arm of Bakura who, being the dark spirit that he was, was actually smiling in the face of danger.

The group, made up of the 5 pairs, was standing in front of the ominous and dark temple. Located in the center of the forest, it had an ancient and oppressing air to it, and unconsciously, the group had become almost silent as they walked towards it.

Around them, the trees swayed slowly as if warning them not to enter. But the wind could not grasp there attention on this night. They all just stood there, staring ahead, in wait for what was to come.

For what they waited for, none could say. It was if they were looking for a sign that would give them courage. The only ones not totally submitting to the temple's power were Seto, being the one who had his head planted firmly in reality, and Bakura, whose dark nature was grinning in anticipation.

Suddenly, a gust of fierce wind blew down from the shore, and snapped the reverence that the group had been maintaining. The only sounds that could be heard were their breaths as they edged cautiously toward the dark expanse looming in front of them.

It did not need to be spoken that the tension between them was so high that they creeped along on silent feet and wary eyes.

So when Yugi brushed his hand up against Yami's arm, the darker's instant reaction was immediate and sharp. Yuugi hitched his breath and grabbed Yami, pulling him a little ways away from the slow procession.

"Yami, I don't feel good about this," Yuugi confessed. Yami knew that his aibou was more sensitive in such feelings and so took him seriously. But they could not turn back, not over something that might turn out to be nothing at all. Yami could only offer words of comfort and encouragement to his light. Though still a worried expression lingered on Yuugi's face, he followed behind Yami into the dark pit that was the shrine.

Instantly, a cold wrapped itself around Yuugi's form and started to squeeze the breath out of his body. The last thing present in his mind was the silent call to his love. '_Yami..'_

**XXXXXXXXX**

Yuugi awoke sometime later in a dimly-lit, silent alley. Squinting around, he could not see passed the small light created, he realized, by himself. He looked down to find himself sitting up against the cold brick wall. Yuugi shivered.

It took another minute for Yuugi to suddenly realize that everything about this alley was familiar. The way the wind blew through the cracks the way the wall seemed to silently protest under his slight weight, the way it was hard to see past a few feet in front of him. With growing horror, Yuugi's eyed darted across the dark alley as he whimpered.

As if on cue, a door from the shadows burst open and rebounded against the wall as a tall figure blocked the light from reaching him. He could see more standing behind him, eager to begin. Yuugi smothered a moan of dispair and tried to crawl away before looking down at his body in shock. He was covered in welts and bruises, one of his arms wouldn't respond to his commands, and drawing a breath, Yuugi started to cough and spit out blood.

Memories crashed down upon him wave after wave, scenes from his seemingly so long ago life flashed passed his eyes like lightening, and Yuugi could only hold his head in his hands.

_Yuugi was standing in front of a mirror in the school bathrooms, staring back angerly at the reflection. He scowled at the bruises covering his cheeks and the small but numerous scratches along his arms and legs. Without thinking, he reached out with his fist and swung it down on the mirror. As the glass shattered with a deafening noise, Yuugi was brought back his surroundings with a crash. He desperately searched for a place to hide as the familiar footsteps drew closer._

Yuugi's moan grew steadily louder as his mind brought back later times.

_The youth walked slowly down the street stopped with a soft grunt, before crossing the street. He was always careful: to hide the limp caused by the long gash across his leg, to hide his labored breathing because of the bruising and cuts along his ribs and chest, to hide his face in semi-shadow from the swelling. Rounding another corner, he stopped to ease his headache and so missed the figures closing in on him front all directions._

Before he could stop them, Yuugi found vision blurred as tears leaked out of his eyes. Squeezing them tight, he still couldn't escape the last and most horrible memory. The night They had _all_ come at him, the most painful night of all.

Yuugi yelled out in his mind as he saw the foot raise back for the first kick, _'Where are you, Yami!'_

**XXXXXXXXX**

Finding himself standing on a desolate and dimly lit rooftop, Yami had no idea where he was. A gust of wind started up and blew sand across the empty space as he coughed. _Sand? _Yami thought before concluding he had to be in desert; the combination of heat, sand, and silent whispers convinced his memories.

Yet something seemed familiar, and as Yami stepped out to see over the edge of the tan-colored brick, he suddenly knew where he was.

"Egypt?" He voiced out loud and turned in a full circle, noting the landscape. There was no doubt, he was back in his original time, the time of the pharaohs. Getting over the shock of returning such an ancient setting, Yami's hand reached behind him for his Light's...and found it to be missing. His eyes widened as he spun around. His gaze raked over the rooftop, scouring for Yuugi.

"Why am I here?" Yami murmured to himself as he searched for a way down, finding no conventional means, he jumped straight down the two stories and landed, bent-kneed, on the ground below.

It was empty; there were no people nor even any traces of them. It seemed as if human presence hadn't been around here in a long time. Upon closer expection, things not evident from the height of the roof above, Yami could see that everything was in ruins. The walls remained only half-standing and darkness shrouded every corner and severly limited Yami's vision.

"_No_..." Yami choked out. This was the capital; he could see the palace ruins rising defeatedly over the next building remains. He had grown _up_ here and now what remained was twisting his heart inside out.

As a child, he had always feared the attacks of the renegade tribes and in his dreams, imagined a horror falling over the town. Never a night had gone by without Yami jerking awake with a gasp, the image of the town lying in ruins in his mind; the people he had loved, known, and cared for dead, scattered and taken by the winds.

And now it had become a reality before his very eyes.

But Yami's mind refused to believe that his beloved city could be so destroyed. With a trembling hand, he reached out to touch the nearest broken wall and let out a wordless cry as the stone crumbled underneath his fingers.

His darkened vision swam as tears filled his eyes, a reflection of his heart, broken in despair. He didn't want to spend any more time in this place. He wanted desperately to return to the arms of his lover. As if caught on a loop, he called out the same things over and over in his mind.

_'Yuugi, where are you?'_

**XXXXXXXXX**

Ryou stepped through into the dark expanse of the temple and shivered. Like Yuugi, he had felt uneasy about this entire venture and only by force of Bakura's wrath had he followed him in.

The sensation of falling hit him like a ton of bricks, but before he could cry out, Ryou found himself standing in the kitchen of the apartment he and Bakura shared. Blinking repeatedly to make sure he wasn't imagining anything, Ryou stepped forward tentitively and spun around when he heard a grunt of disgust.

Standing in all his wrathfull power was Bakura, and the dangerous and angry glint in his eyes was setting Ryou on edge. He gasped and lifted his arm, stretching it towards his boyfriend, who was hidden in the shadows. This seemed to further anger the dark being, and Bakura stepped forward swiftly with a low growl, like a predator hunting its prey, into the light of the kitchen lamps.

Ryou couldn't remember a time that Bakura was ever this angry with him; those eyes had always held such love in them. The farthest anger that had ever been directed in Ryou's direction had been frustration, and even then it had only been the sexual kind, the kind both he and Bakura secretly enjoyed.

Carefully backing away from the onslaught of rage present in his lover's towering form, Ryou's progress was halted by the sharp edge of the kitchen counter. He bit back a yelp as his attention breifly left Bakura to glance at the counter, and in the second Bakura had closed the distance between them and stood, poised to pounce.

Ryou shuddered uncontrollably in fear, for the first time experiencing the reason why Bakura's foes didn't stay sane, or alive, for long. Closing his eyes, a whimper escaped Ryou's lips as a slight breeze brushed passed his face, foretelling of the pain that was to come.

**XXXXXXXXX**

Joey stood in the rain in front of Seto's mansion with no recollection as to how he got there. The tears falling steadily down his cheeks were lost in the greater force of the rain and an overwhelming sadness enveloped his heart. Everything seemed to be happening in slow motion. Somehow, a hopeless he hadn't felt in a long time was descending on his shoulders and with a cry, Joey fell to the ground as his knees gave out.

But he didn't care, not that he was soaked to the bone, nor that he had was the only person in sight as far as he could see. With stunning clarity, the events of the past hour had come back to him and Joey's shoulders began to shake as he lost control of his emotions.

'_Seto's left me...for good_,' Joey shouted in his head. He wanted to scream out loud, to pound on the ground, to shake the iron bars of the gates to the mansion; but he did none of those things. He couldn't seem to get passed the barrier in his mind that stopped him front doing anything physical. So he sat with his head bowed and stared at the water dripping off his hair. _'But why?'_

Ripples of pain echoed in Joey's mind as he tried to grasp such a sudden event, such a change. '_The bastard hadn't even felt any sadness when he had told me it was over, only told me to leave_.' Gasping for breath, he put out one hand on the ground to steady himself. There was confusion and anger and mixed with the regret and pain, how did this all come about?

_'After all those times, all those memories...How can you just throw all that away without a second thought, Seto? Are you really as heartless as you pretend to be?' _Joey silently pleaded in his mind. '_But you're not! You let me in under that cold, aloof exterior. And now you're pushing me back out? How _could_ you?'_

Joey's gaze snapped up until he faced the falling rain and closed his eyes.

_I've seen the real you, the one that hides behind the mask you wear, and I thought he was beautiful. I know all your secrets, you told them to me yourself, every night, even though it seemed that it hurt you to do so. And you weren't the only one, I told you _mine_ too!'_

Silence pressed in on all sides as all hope seem to flee to far away places.

And finally, a long-awaited sob tore through Joey's throat and seemed to float up into the sky. He was on the verge of completely losing himself, yet the struggle for understanding inside himself continued.

_'So much, so _much_ did I share with you. And for what? To be thrown out like your garbage, is that what I look like to you now?' _Joey's eyes narrowed in bitterness. _'You _knew_ I didn't tell you those things easily and how much it meant to tell you. How _could_ you betray be so?"_

Sitting back, Joey began to rock back in forth under the downpour that coated everything in a grey curtain and let out a moan. He cried under the clouds for all of the happiness that he and Seto would never share again, he cried for all the bad things they had ever gone through and survived, he cried for the hurt that was tearing him apart inside.

Joey cried until he could cry no more and his vision darkened. The last he heard was the rumbling of a car as it drew near when he slumped forward against the brick wall of the mansion and lost all consciousness.

**XXXXXXXXX**

Bakura couldn't believe what he was doing, or more specifically, what his _body_ was doing for he seemed to have _no_ control over it, whatsoever. He stared in incredity as the form which had served him so faithfully was gaining a mind of its own and directing his feet.

It only vaguely registered in Bakura's scattered mind that he was astoundingly back in the apartment that he and Ryou lived in since getting together, as he was taken passed the various rooms and closets, down the long hallway that connected them all, and stopped in front of the kitchen doorway. It was with anger that he realized that his voice was not responding either.

Bakura wanted to shout out at such a ridiculous situation, at the very least regain use in his limbs, but all he could manage was a grunt of disgust at his now dimished control, if he couldn't even accomplish _that_.

Upon hearing his half-voiced complaint, Ryou spun around and his eyes widened in fear. Seeing this, Bakura wanted to point this out, being the weird way he was being stared at but most of his concentration was on moving his foot, which wasn't budging at the moment. Getting more and more frustrated at his inability to communicate with his body or Ryou, Bakura unconsciously released a growl of triumph when his feet started to move again and glided across the kitchen floor.

Having completely ignored Ryou during that time, Bakura looked up to see him cowering in fear against the back counter. More in puzzlement as to being angry, he barely managed to direct his legs in the general direction of Ryou before he allowed his full attention to turn to trying to figure out what was wrong. He felt that protective streak kick in, the same one Yami had with _his _hikari.

_'If anything or anyone was hurting his Ryou, they would _pay', Bakura promised. And now it was applied to this situation, but Bakura could not figure out what was making his lover act like that. Coming to an abrupt halt two inches from Ryou's heaving chest, Bakura's eyes grazed over the younger boy's form, trying to determine the cause. The boy's eyes were shut tight in anticipationg, but of what Bakura knew not.

So it was with great shock that the words from Bakura's mouth were met, from both of the stricken people in the kitchen.

"You _filth_, you _disgust_ me. I've never seen such a _pathetic_ sight!" Those words rang out cold and hard, straight for Ryou's heart. It became worse for Ryou as Bakura continued.

"When did you ever think you were strong enough or most deserving enough to have me or my love? The blindness with which you follow me around is _sickening_!"

_'It doesn't even_ sound _like me_!' Bakura thought with disgust. '_That hikari of mine better not think that's me talking! How _can_ it be?' _Yet it was with pain and hurt filling the eyes of the delicate creature before him, that Ryou looked up, those eyes filling with tears. _'What?' _Bakura shouted, on the edge of hysteria, in his mind.'_You really think I'm that low and cruel? Bad I may be, but never to you, Ryou! Never!'_

Bakura continued to pour forth hurtful things from his controlled mouth.

_"Worthless_ is what you are! Always have and always will be! Don't you know that already?

"And don't think about going to your friends. You _have_ no real friends, they're all pretending! You'll _never_ have any friends, not now or ever. I'll make _sure _of that.

Bakura's evil voice began to shout, "We are so finished. I never want to see your worthless and hideous face _ever_ again!"

_'I understand,' _Bakura thought in sudden revelation_. 'This is what he fears. This is what he thinks might become of us.'_

At that moment, Ryou had sunk down to the floor as his legs gave out and cover his faced with his arms, as if to shield himself from the things being hurled at him like physical objects. Each seemed to find its mark and Ryou's tears dropped down into view on his blazer. But it was all futile, the loud penetrating and obnoxious voice broke through any thoughts Bakura might have been forming again.

"And I've never even liked your cooking. It's like you tried to fry the garbage you made me throw out! Dis-gusting."

_' What in Ra's name? That's not even something I _think _about!' _he exclaimed in his mind at that particular ridiculous insult, directed at the crumpled form below. Ryou seemed to stir slightly from his stupor. '_If this keeps up, Ryou will be laughing instead!' _

Bakura's eyes flashed with sudden realization before returning to the hateful gleam that clouded them.

_'That's it, I have to show him what's real!' _With renewed vigor, Bakura preceded to do just that.

As an afterthought he muttered,"_I_ like_ your cooking_."

**XXXXXXXX

* * *

**

**XXXXXXXX**

**Notes4:** Ok, be nice please! This took a while to do because of all of the character's personal histories and personalities! Long reviews appreciated. P


	8. True and Pure

**Notes:** Thanks for all the reviews, you guys! And give yourself a pat on the back, those of you who understood what was happening. I was worried, I sometimes have trouble conveying my feelings in words. So I'm glad this worked out!

Oh, and Nefertari? Yay! You gave me a long review. Hehe, D For all of you who don't know her stories, I swear you've been living under a rock. Check her stuff out at Princess Nefertari AKA Krysta, found in my reviews and favorites! P

Oh, and yay! This chapter is looong, but that's good, right? Hehe

One more thing. I'll address this in the fic later on but I need to say it now. Yuugi and Yami are separate while the other couples are together because their worst memories are before they met each other. When the other is there, they have nothing to fear. Plus, their fear is made worse by the fact that they are alone and apart from each other. Nothing tears them up inside like not being together. K, is that clear enough for ya, Brave Rae?

* * *

**CH 9 True and Pure**

Mokuba was on the verge of collapsing in a child-like fit of giggles. And that was a very rare occurance. He scanned the interior of the temple again and his gaze fell over the onconscious forms of his brother and friends.

It had been hard getting them together but now that they were all finally here, in the temple, things could continue as he had planned. With a half-smile, Mokuba checked their stats on the monitors and walked back to lean against the nearest wall.

He sank down and sat on the cold floor, contemplating the difficulty of creating all those suggestions and hints he had carefully planted within the group. Like today's outing; it had been his idea from the start, but he had managed to make it look like Seto had suggested it. It had been vital that all of them were together for everything to succeed, and that they suspected _nothing._

And the painstaking gathering of the personal histories of the group had been a long process as well. It had taken much forethought and very tentitive execution. '_But it is all paying off now'_, Mokuba thought.

With a sigh, Mokuba closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the cool wall. It was time to see if the love present between his friends was as true and pure as they thought; where things went from there, he didn't know.

**XXXXXXXXX**

Seto slumped against the door and stared blankly at his bedroom. The earlier events didn't even seem like he had been part of them. All that was left in their wake was the pain, and terrible lonliness.

He looked around. Each piece of furniture seemed to shake awake another memory that he was trying so hard to bury inside. But to no avail, with difficulty he made it to the bed but before he could lower himself on it, his legs gave out and he crumpled to the floor.

If he had been staring out the window, toward the gate, Seto would have seen Joey fall at the same time as he did. But now, neither would know the strength of the bond that had been formed between them.

With startling force, Seto was overwhelmed once again as he began reliving the earlier events, for what seemed the hundreth time.

_Seto could feel his gaze hardening, regardless of how he was feeling inside. This was the curse of the cruel, heartless bastard that had pretended to be his father. A mask, to hide his feelings, emotions, and desires. A mask, to effectively cut him off from the people around him._

_And now this mask was aimed at Joey, who was standing there as if lost to what to do now. Seeing this, Seto realized that Joey was on the edge of tears, Seto hadn't hidden himself from him since before they had found love, in each other. _

_Seto wanted to run to him, to hold him and tell him everything was going to to fine, _anything_. But he stood there, trapped between Joey's love and Joey's life. For Seto hadn't told anyone why he was breaking everything off, he hadn't even tried to think about it himself._

**XX**

_Earlier that day, Seto had been awoken by one of his servants delivering a letter. Annoyed at the interuption to his sleep, he had stalked toward the hired help, frozen in terror, when his eye had caught the name on the envelope. Snatching the letter, he had stomped back to his room and sat down at his desk, his attention all on the writing in front of him._

'SETO_' The package said, and it angered as much as it interested him. No one had the right to call him that except the people he allowed. As of that moment, only Mokuba and Joey used that name with ease. To an extent, Yuugi and his friends used it as well but not with such familiarity._

_With a violent jerk, he tore the flap open and reached a hand inside to pull out whatever was in it._

_Seto wasn't expected to see a yellowing slip of paper that seemed to be infinitely old. The side he was staring at was blank so he turned it over, and was surprised to see Egyptian symbols on it. It took only a second for his ancient mind to switch languages and soon he was scanning the writing with ease._

_With incredilous eyes, he stopped his reading and forced himself to read it from the beginning again, slowly. He was sure he had made a mistake somewhere, but it was not so. What was written, was written. With growing horror, Seto finished reading and let the paper fall from his fingers back onto the desk as he slumped back in his chair. Thoughts whirled through his mind as he considered his actions._

**'Does the title address bother you, Seto? It is all you ever amounted to. You know you don't deserve all of this. You'll die broken and alone. That will be made certain. Your pet will be the first to go.'**

_Normally, at this point Seto would ball up the paper, then throw it over his shoulder and into the garbage. But something caught his eye and he continued reading._

**You don't believe any of it, do you, Seto? But we have been watching you. We know what matters most to you. You don't deserve the love of your "mutt". Or your brother. Does any of this seem familiar, Seto? It wouldn't be surprising if we were watching you even as you read this.**

_At those words, his head had shot up and shifted around the room. An anxious feelings seem to wash over him and something akin to panic rose in his throat. But Seto forced it all back, he didn't know what was wrong with him if just a letter could induce such a response. His eyes traveled down the page and stopped at his previous spot._

**And does Egypt bring back any memories, high priest? We have been watching you for a very long time. And you have _never _deserved anything that you've received. So, now it's time to show you what happens to those who don't work to get what they want.**

_The letter had ended there, with no closure or signature. Unbidden, memories of everything he had ever done that wasn't entirely legal or kind rose to Seto's mind. And then, his age old fear bubbled to the surface again, escaping the confines he had put around it once again. _

_He had always been plagued by fear that everything had come to easy to him. Although he had worked hard, Seto couldn't shake the feeling that because he had accomplished what _he _wanted, that he wasn't entitled to it. It was an inexplainable fear that twisted through him mind, shifting his feelings back and forth._

_He had to struggle to supress a shiver. Seto's eyes widened and he choked out a whispered "Oh no..." Even as he searched for an alternative to what he knew he had to do, he knew that there wasn't. _

_Those words _had _forced his actions. To spare Joey, he had, had to let him go. _

Even if the pain seemed about to eat Seto alive. Not for the first time, he wondered if maybe there had been another way to solve this. But none came to mind, not even now, and Seto heaved a sigh of regret and defeat, mixed together to create a heart-wrenching note.

_'He had looked to broken, standing there. Why, oh why, did this have to end like this?' _Once again, Seto cursed the writer of such a letter. For it had caused too much pain.

And it was then that he finally let the mask he wore to crack down the middle. Tears filled his eyes and scewed his vision as a throaty cry escaped his lips. Filled with so much pain that it threatened to dissolve his very existence, Seto tried to stop the flow of sorrow that filled him. But like a dam, once the gates were open, they could not be closed and Seto could only cry helplessly on his bedroom floor, rocking back and forth with his eyes shut tight.

Sometimes, his grief would take his voice and he would mumble or shout something into the waiting silence, unconsciously hoping for a response from his beloved, and only cried even harder when he didn't.

He didn't notice that the wind howled endlessly through the suddenly empty mansion, or that the room around him was fading to black, or even that the floor behind his shut bedroom door was creaking, the telltale sound of a presence on the other side.

Seto was oblivious to all of this, his grief screaming louder in his mind than anything else.

**XXXXXXXXX**

Joey hesitated outside Seto's bedroom door. He had marched up the drive to the Kaiba Mansion with his his resolution firmly in mind, and his feet bringing him swiftly closer to his destination. He had been so focused that he hadn't noticed the uncomfortable emptiness of the building; how no servant or guard was to be found, or how no sound carried through, not even the tap of Joey's boots against the floor. Joey hadn't even noticed the pressing silence that eagerly descended on him now that he was standing still.

He had come to confront Seto again. As the happenings had gone through his mind over and over again, he had realized the mask the Seto had put on was to hide the feelings underneath. But most of all, Joey realized, the mask had hidden what Joey wasn't supposed to see.

Something was wrong, Joey was sure of it. All he needed now was to find out what, and he planned on making Seto talk no matter what it took.

But all of his thoughts and doubts and worries crashed down on him now, as he stood, frozen with his hand pressed flat againt the door. Joey didn't know what to say anymore. The entire, carefully prepared speech that he had constructed fell to pieces, though he struggled mightily to hold it together.

_'Why is it only Seto that does that to me?' _Joey thought with a rutheful smile. '_It is him, and him alone, that can melt my heart and leave me breathless. It is only him that I live for, without his love, I will surely fade away.'_

Joey let out a deep sigh and pressed his forehead against the coolness of the door, closing his eyes. He let his mind wander and take him where it will as he struggled to gather his composure, taking in ragged breaths.

And it was then that he heard another raw sob tear through the silence and reach his ears. He knew that voice, distraught and broken as it was, it was Seto.

Fear ran through him as he jerked back up agian and swung the door open with one hand on the handle and a foot already stepping into the room. Panic overrode everything else, from the surroundings of the two, to the past events of that day. Joey only had eyes for the sad figure huddling in front of him.

"Seto!" He exclaimed upon seeing the defeated form, normally so arrogant and defiant. It broke Joey's heart to see Seto like this, and no matter what had happened between them, Joey still cared about him. Deeply.

When Seto didn't respond to his voice, Joey rushed forward to his side and dropped down. But still, Seto sat with his face in his hands and a continuous moan escaping him. Overcome with tender love, Joey reached forward and scooped the limp Seto into his arms and onto his lap. Seto didn't even protest.

This frightened Joey even more. No response, nothing at all, was coming from Seto. He continued to be oblivious with his eyes turned downwards toward the ground.

Bringing his hands up from Seto's shoulders, Joey found his face and used the soft underside of his fingers to brush the tears out of Seto's eyes. But they still remained unfocused, so Joey moved closer until their gaze was level and Seto's unseeing eyes were reflected in Joey's, whose where shining with unshed tears of fear and pain.

It was hurting Joey inside, to see Seto like this and know that because he had left, Seto was like this.

_'It never should have been like this,' _Joey thought desperately. _'Why can't you see what's in front of you, Seto? I'm right here...'_

"I'm right here...", Joey repeated as he leaned even closer to Seto's grief-stricken face and brought their faces close together. Just before he leaned in, Joey saw a flicker of recognition flash through Seto's eyes before their lips met and the world fell away.

The kiss sparked something deep inside both of them and released the love that had been closed off, to save them from the pain. The returning of such a strong emotion was like the sun returning to a darkened world.

It quenched an imaginable thirst, something primal which had awoken within the couple, and everlasting love took its rightful place within their hearts.

_This feels..._Seto thought, emerging from somewhere deep inside himself, _it feels so _right_.How could I have ever thought I could live without him?_

The same thought was going through Joey's mind, and he added. _Somehow..somehow I know that we were meant for one another._

And as they continued their embrace, revelling in being so close to the other, the world shattered around them and left only darkness in its wake.

**XXXXXXXXX**

_"Your cooking makes me sick!"_

Thatparticular remark, which had spouted from Bakura's lips, echoed in Ryou's mind. Somehow, it just didn't ring true. Thinking back only recently, Ryou could recall many instances in which Bakura had admitted that he worshipped his cooking.

Fending for himself all those years as his parents worked away from home, Ryou had learned how to take of himself and it had payed off with Bakura. The one thing that Ryou had to minipulate his demonic lover was his cooking. And favors, of course...the kind only done in the bedroom.

Getting back to the matter at hand, Ryou tried to reason, _Why would Bakura pretend to like my cooking when he could have had his way by refusing it?_

He wasn't even listening to the the horrid insults, they were falling on deaf ears. All attention had turned inward to figure out what was really going on, and unconsciously relaxed his clutch on his blazer, lowering his arms from their protection of his head.

_Why would he, _Ryou was determinedly chasing after the answer he had glimpsed. Somewhere in the back of his mind, an idea had formed and as he tried to figure it out, it kept slipping through his mind's grasp.

And then, he caught it.

_Why?...Unless! Unless he ISN'T pretending! And that means..., _Ryou's eyes widened then and his arms fell back down to his sides.

_He's lying! _His eyes darkened in confusion. _But what do I do now?_

**XXXXXXXXX**

Bakura was struggling to keep and smugness out of his expression, well, the part he could move. He didn't want to alert the force controlling his body that he had figured out a way to beat it, being the all-powerful being that he was.

But he couldn't help the joyful glint fron entering his eyes when Ryou stirred before him and lowered his hands. He had to refrain from dancing in joy in his head when Ryou dropped his hands in his lap and blinked up at him with a confused expression on his adorable face.

Quickly, Bakura tried to think up some thought to make himself voice it, a thought he knew to be entirely untrue. He panicked when one didn't suddenly come to mind and was about to scream in frustration...when it came to him.

He quickly pushed that thought to the forefront of his mind, where he could feel a powerful force lodged there, and brought up twisted memories to accompany it.

Not many knew this, except Ryou and perhaps the Pharaoh and the High Priest when they thought back to their previous lives, but Bakura had very advanced psychic powers. He could read others' minds, unless intensely blocked, as the Pharaoh and High Priest liked to do and other such things.

But the most important part, was that Bakura had a Shadow mind. Playing the Shadow Games so many times, and so frequently, had resulted in his creating a separate consciousness where he had transferred his inner mind. The way that worked was that he sent the most essential parts of his mind to the Shadow Realm and operated his body from there.

That was why he had been so distressed initially, when his body had refused him. It could have meant that his Shadow mind was sealed off and his consciousness was trapped behind the mass of his physical mind. Not that he'd ever admit it, to anyone, but he had always had a fear that something like this would happen.

The fact that an alien force was controlling his body didn't really matter. _After all, _he thought confidently, _I can fix this eventually. _

But the fact that he was being made to hurt Ryou, the one being that had made its way passed the barriers and walls he had put up around himself. The one person who had survived all that and snuggled up to his heart so easily...Well, that just made it certain that the person or thing responsible for Ryou's pain was going to die a very violent and painful death.

And now he sent the untrue thought to the force, sending a message to his boyfriend, hoping Ryou would see it.

"_You are the WORST person I have EVER had the displeasure to have in bed_!" Bakura's voice spit out, sounding so ridiculous to both males because it wasn't true.

The truth was the complete opposite. In fact, Bakura had been forced to admit to him, Ryou was one of the best. Somehow, the energy and reserve the boy kept during the day, came out at night and rocked Bakura's world.

That was why he took care to make sure that Ryou didn't hear anything bad going on that included Bakura, for Ryou's punishment involved withholding the two of the things that Bakura was addicted to: Ryou's cooking...and something that led to sexual frustration if not satisfied.

So, the fact that Bakura's mind-controlled body was saying such untrue things, was making Ryou's suspicions grow very quickly. Bakura watched with satisfaction as Ryou's eyes cleared of their confusion, to be replaced with a stubborn determination that only Bakura's boyfriend would have.

_Atta boy, Ryou, _Bakura encouraged in his mind and allowed a glint of approval to reach his eyes and then quickly hiding it again, before the force in his mind could realize what was going on.

**XXXXXXXXX**

Slowly, waking up abused muscles, Ryou stood up and turned his gaze towards Bakura's, meeting his eyes dead on. He kept getting the nagging sensation that something wasn't right about him, especially Bakura's look.

The normally glinting, mischevious eyes that hinted at things Ryou didn't know, were now dull and blank. Yet Ryou could see that some emotion would swim tentatively to the surface every once in a while.

Like an electrical shock to his system, Ryou knew what was going on; The words being thrown at him now didn't even faze him. He knew they weren't meant, not from the one he loved.

Ryou searched for something he could do, anything, to stop the tirade and bring back his lover. Unconsciously, he took a step forward, closer to Bakura's form. Somehow, it was so hard to approach Bakura when Ryou didn't know if he was wanted or not.

He had always know how Bakura was feeling from his body language, it was one of the main reasons he understood Bakura so thoroughly, and one of the reasons he couldn't hide anything from Ryou.

A helpless shiver escaped Ryou's thin frame and his shoulders drooped even as he faced his boyfriend. What could he do? He had always been the weaker of the two, that fact Bakura had let him know many times..._especially in the bedroom_, he thought with a blush.

As inevitable as the first reaction had been, a second thought followed in its trail, racing through his mind like a hot flame. _Why do I have to STAY weak? I'm as strong as anyone!_

Ryou felt himself square his shoulders and lift his gaze to show a haughty stare that Bakura could be proud of. Suddenly, the Dark and Light resemblance between the two was unmistakable. Like two halves of a whole, they filled in what the other didn't, had what the other needed.

As he stepped forward, his eyes fell on Bakura's lips and he gave a soft intake of breath.

As always, they moved with such seductiveness, even in anger. As sure as he knew who he was, Ryou knew he was completely hipnotised by the beauty and the deadliness, combined in such a delicious way on Bakura's lips. He had always been.

And Ryou found that Bakura looked so defenseless right then, so _wanting, _that he couldn't resist. Ryou closed the last couple of feet between them and stumbled into Bakura's arms, staring up at him from half-closed eyes.

Bakura gave an involuntarily shiver up his spine and regardless of the powerful force controlling his body, he felt himself lean down toward Ryou as well, as if Ryou's yearning was overpowering the force controlling his mind.

Everything seemed to slow down, as if waiting for them to meet.

They were like opposite ends of a magnet, Ryou and Bakura were. So totally different in every way, yet strangely similiar and familiar, as if only just reversed. So different as to be apart, yet so attracted to one another. The pull each felt towards the other was undeniable, it was like a searing fire to the soul when they were apart.

The want, the need...Ryou felt it as much as Bakura did. So in tune to each other, so knowing, they were reminded of the other in themselves. Twisting words, soothing rhythm; it was undescribable to feel the other, skin on skin.

After what seemed at eternity, lips met. In light and darkness, in sound and silence, in water and fire, in pain and pleasure. So exquisite, so unique; Ryou felt tears come to his eyes from experiencing such beauty. Bakura jerked suddenly and Ryou felt that somewhere deep inside him, a barrier holding him back had torn apart, flooding the empty form with what was Bakura.

Strong arms came up and wrapped around Ryou tightly as a gasp escaped passed Bakura's lips. He was back in control. Everything was forgotten, forgiven, and loved again as they felt love unfold as never before, knowing that the one thing that mattered was not opposite between them.

Shining light collided with consuming dark and they dissappeared in a whirl of light, leaving nothing in their wake except the lingering sense of strong emotions.

* * *

**XXXXXXXXX**

**A/N**

**

* * *

**

All done! Please review and tell me how I'me doing! And you'll just have to wait till next chapter to find out what's going on with Yuugi and Yami. Hehe, till then!


	9. Two Sides of a Heart

**Notes:** Hi there, fellow fanfic readers/writers! I've just labored over the creation of a joint fanfiction site I'm working on with another writer by the name of Completed Irony.So, I'd really appreciate it if you guys would take maybe a couple of moments to check it out. (Please sign the guestbook!) It's still in the stage where everything's being uploaded so check back every once in a while for more stuff. So, that was my website plug.

And this chapter...Oh boy, what can I say. It's just so easy to slip into the world Yuugi and Yami are in. Maybe that's why there are so many stories out there on this series. I just want to say that this chapter was hard to write, to bring the right point and feeling across so I hope I've done that. And just as a heads-up, there's a couple more chapters left after this one and then, that's it.

So, I hope you enjoy!

* * *

**  
CH 10 Two Sides of a Heart**

In the light of the receeding darkness, Mokuba's frown looked monstrous. His gaze raked over the subjects and halted on the monitors.

Everything seemed to be going well; the group was sufficiently infused with the illusion and battling it out, to the best of his knowledge. But still, something nagged at the back of Mokuba's mind.

He continued his assessment of the program. Mokuba's brother and his boyfriend were against the far wall, attached to a single machine that read their life-signs.

All the other couples were attached to shared machines as well. This allowed their consciousness to cross over into a double world, where anything could happen.

Heading all this, was Mokuba. He was directing the entire scheme: the place, the time, the beginning dialogue. It had taken considerable work to put this all together and he regarded the finished product was more than healthy pride.

A loud, piercing beep cut through the intense silence and reached his ears.

Immediately, the atmosphere changed. Mokuba's demeanor drastically altered from a self-assured one to the exact opposite.

He ran over to the monitor in question. Nothing,_ not anything_, was supposed to happen. His visions of creating such a perfect environment went down in flames as worry flooded his mind. Mokuba could feel the panic edging in, trying to overtake his logic.

One of the machines had sent out a warning and Mokuba suddenly knew that his instincts had been confirmed.

Something was entirely wrong.

**XXXXXXXXX**

"I'm here for you, Yuugi!" Shouted a voice through the darkness, but the boy in question didn't even lift his head. He had long ago given up hope, and all the disembodied voices around him didn't reach his heart.

This voice, the sound of Yami through the silence, Yuugi knew it wasn't real. By now, he'd given up hope of his true love coming to save him. He had already accepted his fate, to dwell in this dark, pain be his life, until all eternity ended.

Yuugi suddenly felt so alone, so vulnerable. So, in _pain. _Bloody coughs racked through his body as he tried to sit up, and failed. He couldn't even lift his arms to try to ward of the blows anymore. The pain just kept coming, given endlessly by the black demons of his past.

Ironically, the most pain he felt, was from the memories each blow brought back to him.

A kick to his ribs...and he was transported back to a time when he had been alone, when all Yuugi had to enjoy was the cards in his deck and his imagination. Lonliness had seeped into his very bones and he always felt like he was about to break down.

That had been one of the most dark times in his life. Locked away in a world of unfeeling, uncaring souls, Yuugi had felt his own shrink a little more each day.

He had even contemplated ending his life, but had never had enough courage to carry out the task. Tears had obscued his vision everytime and not being able to see what he was doing, Yuugi had halted himself every time.

Dark days he had seen, then.

A sudden resounding slap to his head and he was sent spinning into an abiss filled with his worries about his friends. Blinking, he opened his eyes on a scene he wished he could forget.

Across from him stood Joey, yet he did not look as he usually did. His normally joyous and amused gaze was blank now, cruelly so, and Yuugi felt tears come to his eyes.

It had always hurt him and filled him with terrible guilt that he had not been able to stop his friends from getting involved in his affairs. It had not been their fault, their choice. Yet, Yuugi's friends had chosen to stay by his side.

Joey had risked his life, sacrificing his own freedom to save Yuugi, though in his heart, Yuugi knew he didn't deserve it. It was only luck that had allowed Joey to survive that day as well.

Yuugi felt a bone crack as an incredible force came down on his right arm and he couldn't hold back the cry of agony that escaped him. But the pain he felt now didn't even compare to the horrid feeling he experienced every time he thought back to his worst memories.

With a jerk, he was brought back to the day he had been ripped out of his body, leaving Yami alone. That had been the most terrifying experience he could imagine.

The comfort and warmth, the support and care, everything had had come to depend and live on from his Yami, that was gone. It was as if a piece of himself had been torn away as Valon's Seal took him away to a dark and terrible place, where the only sounds were the mad laughter of Dartz.

He had lived in such eternal darkenss and despair that Yuugi had been in disbelief when he had seen his Yami next. All the time spent alone in the darkness had made him question himself endlessly, until even the foundation of his sanity had begun to crumble.

With growing horror, and with every breaking pain in his broken body, Yuugi now felt his rationality slowly leave him once again.

**XXXXXXXXX**

Yami landed in the heavy, sifting sands once again, but this time, he didn't to get up. The terrible ache and strain that he'd put on his body had finally taken its toll and now his body refused to listen to his pleading calls.

It felt like an eternity since he'd last seen his precious light, and every second without him was a second more that something died inside Yami. Like the first sweet breath of air in the morning and the last exhale before sleep, Yuugi was his very reason for survival, the only one.

Without Yuugi by his side, Yami became a hollow body, devoid of all emotions and thoughts except for the ones associated with his one-track determination to find Yuugi again. Whether he liked it or not, Yami was totally, irresistably, consumingly, and unforgettably addicted to the most important person in the world to him: Yuugi.

_Yuugi_...Just the very name was enough to send shivers up and down his spine and his breathing to become erratic. Just the very thought was enough to send him wild with longing for the lithe form that was his hikari.

But right now, no matter what feelings were trying to make themselves known in his body and soul, Yami was trapped in a place of aching and anguish. He had been tormented relentlessly since he'd left the abandoned city a while back. _The visions just kept coming..._

Walking along a dark corridor, Yami kept his balance and sense of direction by pressing a hand against the damp wall. It was rough beneath his fingers and caught his skin in places painfully but he endured it; anything to get out of such ultimate finality as the dark provided.

Ahead of him, a small beam of light seemed to suddenly pierce the darkness and erupt all around him. With a mind-dizzying jolt, he was thrown head-first into a scene that to his eyes, had to be anything but truth.

Yuugi lay in front of him, lying broken on the ground, and a pleading look in his eyes. A voice that didn't sound like his echoed into his mind from somewhere far away.

_Please...end it_, it begged him. Yami couldn't do anything but stare motionless at the wraithlike figure of his light in front of him, an unreadable emotion in his eyes_. I can't stand the pain...end it._

The voice called out to him again, but Yami's feet remained firmly planted on the ground and refused to take anymore steps closer. It seemed, subconsciously, he wouldn't, couldn't believe that what lay before him was the truth; the real form of the love of his life.

Somehow understanding, the vision before him was wiped away like sand on stone, and Yami was wrenching violently away again into the dark abiss.

He landed in a more familiar setting, and this was what began to scare Yami. Each vision was becoming more personal, as if it delved into his mind and searched for something to use against him.

Yami had no such defense against it, he could only try to overcome whatever it threw at him.

The room around him was his own. Glancing out the window, Yami could make out the rain against the pane and hear the steady pitter-patter as it hit the roof. He had the sensation that he'd been here before, that this scene had been played out some long time past.

A strange feeling seemed to gather itself in the back of his consciousness and bring itself forward, forcing itself passed his rationality and into his thoughts. More strongly now, Yami felt that this had happened a time before this one, that he's been here and done this another time.

It took a couple more silent minutes with the rain beating its constant reminder, but then it hit Yami like lightening. This was _that_ night; the one he'd tried so hard to forget.

Why? It was the night that Yuugi had almost left forever, as broken and distraught as Yami himself had been.

Like a malicious beast, the memories descended and engulfed him, sending him reeling with a thousand emotions.

It was some time later that he emerged from another particular vision and memory and found himself back in the dry and sandy place where he'd started. Ironically, this was the one place he did not hate anymore, not like the others.

For this ghostly city from his past, it did not try to overpower him with his own existence; it just let him be, let him regain his breath before he was inevitably dragged off in another direction.

Yami didn't know how much more of this he could take.

When the pleading voice of his hikari called from the darkness, Yami could only feel anger stir in its depths, at his last sanctuary, and at the betraying injustice of it all. No doubt it was another of the horrible and never-ending visions come to plague him some more. Oh, how he now hated them and his helplessness in preventing them.

The anger brought fresh defiance to his mind and without another thought from his rationality, Yami stood up and ran.

He fled the warmth of the sun on his face and into the blue-tinted shadows of the shade. He left behind his emotion and feelings, left behind his memories. But try as he might, Yami couldn't leave behind his soul.

He ran in whatever direction his legs felt like taking him and until he felt ready to give out. He ran long, and hard, and thoughtlessly, for even one thought of Yuugi sent a painful jolt to his heart that pounded away at his sanity.

Much later, or so his already jumbled-up mind believed, he tried to catch his breath and forced himself upright by leaned against a brick wall he had found, rising from the ruins of someplace city. It seemed never-ending, and at that moment, Yami welcomed that. He was becoming more and more pessimistic by the minute, but couldn't summon the willpower to keep all the bad thoughts away.

A fist came out from his form and smashed against the wall he was leaning against, _hard_. It gave Yami a grim satisfaction, even though violence was beneath him; right now, the former pharaoh just didn't care, not in this situation; without his Yuugi.

His fist came crashing back down a second time, sending echoes of the destruction all up and down the street he was on; he must have hit the wall harder than he thought, for large chunks of brick began to crumble and fall to the ground when he pulled his hand away.

Yami hissed at the disstilled silence and turned his eyes downward, to that spot in the wall. And immediately blinked, to clear his head from any dillusions and blurred vision. But his eyes worked just fine and what Yami was seeing before him was real, as far as he could tell.

From the hole he had made in the wall, Yami could see a mist-like form seeping through. Yet he knew that there was nothing on the other side of this wall. He double-checked to be sure, glancing around the corner; the opposite site of the brick wall was just empty space, as he'd thought.

Yet, when Yami bent down and looked through the opening and passed the mist, he could see a blackness not unlike the vision darkness that overcame him just before he spiraled off into another memory. Unconsciously, he leaned forward until his nose was almost pressed against the rough-edged brick pieces sticking out from the wall.

It was then that he heard the voices from the other side.

**XX**

Yuugi had been slumped against the wall in a daze for the past ten minutes, too lost in his own thoughts to realize that the physical pain had temporarily stopped. It came in bursts and jolts that seemed to be weakening.

That didn't mean that they didn't cause considerable pain. On the contrary, the pauses only allowed Yuugi time to brace himself for the next kick or slam. To him, it was even worse than the continious attacks before. For then he had been resigned to his face; now Yuugi felt grudging hope flair every time pain didn't come for a couple more seconds.

Of course, his hopes were spectacularly dashed every time when the attacks came, sudden and intense. Yuugi could feel himself slipping away from his small body every horrible memory he relived, yet he tried to hang on as hard as he could.

Long ago, he had stopped trying to call his dark. Long ago, he had stopped waiting for a rescue from this pit of torture. And long ago, he had accepted that this was his fate, this was his life.

_The pain stopped as abruptly as it began. _Yuugi blinked in bewilderment and tried to look through the darkness, _nothing. _He tired to move his body, carefully flexing his joints, _some movement there_.

Inevitably hope flooded Yuugi's heart and he could feel himself losing the loaded pain he was feeling.

But then, a quick and precise kick directed at his stomach cut through all the rising emotion and sunk his soul back down into the pit from which it had come. The light left Yuugi's eyes and they became lifeless and dull once more.

Tears leaked out of the corner of his eyes, and while Yuugi would have liked to believe that it was only from the pain, he knew otherwise. These were the tears of final defeat, approaching and sure of its victory.

Yuugi felt it, consuming and easy and willing, the urge to just give up and let his self go where it will...It was becoming hard, so hard, to resist. With a final tear leaking down his already dirty and tear-stained cheeks, Yuugi closed his eyes and turned face upwards, wishing the world away.

* * *

**XXXXXXXXX**

**A/N**

**

* * *

**


	10. Fusion

**A/N**

**Note:** Sorry this took so long. I've finally realized that you can't force what wasn't meant to be. I'm serious, if you were thinking something else was going to happen than what actually does in this chapter, well, think again. I tried so many approaches to writing this chapter and _it just wouldn't come_. You can't write what doesn't come naturally; what's meant to be is what's meant to be. I originally had a very different perspective on what was going to happen, but when I tried to write it down, it didn't want to be written. So, after a long time of denial, I just let flow what comes naturally. Enjoy and please _**review**_.

* * *

**

* * *

SUNBURN

* * *

**

**

* * *

**

**CH 11 Fusion  
**

_Boom, boom...Boom, boom._

That's when he felt it. Vibrating through his rib cage and coming in sync with the rhythmic beating of his own heart. It ran through his bones, pounding its way through his system until Yuugi was shaking with the very essence of it.

_Is...Is this a heart beat? _Yuugi tentatively asked himself. He suddenly realized how long it had been since he'd had coherent thoughts. When the pain had started, he'd let go of full thought and just let his emotions and feelings rule him. Seems his conscious had stayed intact though, he thought with relief.

_...Boom, boom..._

Yuugi finally found his voice and tried to cry out. What came out was a croak, but that didn't stop him trying again.

_Somehow, this beat is comforting, _he noted, distant from his own body. The steady pounding had a soft, rhythmic lull to it that soothed his aches. Curiously, the outside pain he had been feeling before stopped and dissippated.

_No more kicks_, Yuugi thought detatchedly, he knew they were bound to start up again. He really couldn't summon the energy to move, or even to really care. The steady beat continued to circulate through him and he closed his eyes, letting it wash over him.

Yuugi finally let out a broken sigh as his pains began to throb, the new pain joining the old in a drunken dance all over his body.

His head seemed to bent of its own accord, and collide painfully with the bricks. Yuugi just stayed like that, closing his eyes and sighing one last time.

He had no regrets, except not being able to see his Yami, one last time. Yuugi didn't notice the tears leaking out of his tightly shut eyes, or the way his fists clenched and shook at his sides. He didn't even notice as the wall on which he was leaning, began its own throbbing and slow disintegration.

* * *

**XxX

* * *

**

Frantically, Yami dug away at the wall, pounding with his fists until huge chunks of it collapsed and fell to the side. HIs skin broke, and shiny, red, and glistening droplets fell from his palms and struck the earth, with a silent scream.

None of this registered with his mind, however; Yami had eyes only for the brick wall in front of him, which had strangely shifted color from a tan, sandy color to a dark, musty red. He was immediately reminded of the alleys in Domino, and Yami didn't like that one bit. Something nagged at the back of his thoughts, something that spoke of apprehension and urgency in the same flowing breath.

This only fueled his urgency and he picked up his pace even further. Yami didn't know what had compelled him to look through that hole in the wall, and he didn't know the reason why he was currently ripping it all away.

All that mattered to him right now was getting to the other side, whatever may lie there.

As he worked, tendrils of some consciousness reached out and wrapped around his apprehension, squeezing it into nonexistance. Something managed to lift off his pain and fatigue and stress, until his determination was all that was left.

_Something's familiar_, he thought absent-mindedly as he scrambled to enlarge the opening, _Something I've known before, should know..._

He gave a sharp inhale as a new sound pierced his awareness.

_Boom, boom..._

He furrowed his brow in thought, searching throughout his entire being to determine the source of such a familiar sound.

_...Boom, boom..._

Why did it seem to familiar, as if he'd felt this before? As if he had known this _beat,_ as it were, before?

The deep, steady pounding increased in volume then, until it echoed strangely through Yami's entire being. Or was that him beating in response?

Wait a minute, he was beating? Yami's eyes shut for a moment as he turned his attention inward, his hands continuing on their own.

Why?..._There it was_. Yami's_ heart_ was pounding, his normal rhythm altered to match the beating without. Then, his eyes widened almost comically.

It was a _heart_. Beating in response to his own...Or maybe it was the other way around? Yami wasn't sure anymore, his mind twisting itself inwards to grasp this concept left no room for him to follow intricate paths of thought.

Yet why was this beating so familiar to him? So frustratin familiar that he could have mistakened it for his own?

Then, like the rays of a sudden sun, the answer flared in his mind. How could he have forgotten what he knew better than himself?

"_Yuugi.._." He breathed, both mentally and outwardly, his voice only a whisper, yet rising above the clatter of his hands' work. Yami didn't know how, but he'd managed to continue working, never easing his pace or succumbing to the fatigue he knew was lurking around the corner. No, Yami kept clawing away at the stone wall before him, enlargening the hole and being able to see more, bit by precious bit.

_Almost there_...His muscles screamed and cried red, steady tears.

Small things slowly came into focus, but not enough to see the whole picture. When the hole finally became big enough for him to pass through, he dove in, head-first. He sighed in relief, he'd made it.

Until...Yami gasped as everything sharpened into horryfing detail. The alley, one of many in the backstreets of Domino, was crowded by shadow creatures, not unlike those that he made out of the Shadow Realm.

But there was something different about the ones here. Yami squinted, sending his mind outward and probing the creatures. _They have no will,_ he realized with shock. _They were_, he searched for a word to describe them, _imitations_.

His eyes skimmed past them and he realised that, that was not all. What was causing Yami's chest to tighten painfully was the crumpled form of his hikari, his head tilted back, eyes closed, to see past the darkness and into the sky.

_He looks...So fragile_, Yami thought, as he tried to gently open the mind link between them...And found it severed. _What?_ His eyes widened in disbelief and he tried again, sending his mind out to where Yuugi was lying.

No response. He felt the beginnings of panic cloud his mind and forced it away with his growing anger.. _Who could have done such a feat? There is nothing in this world that can break us apart! _

Yami's eyes widened suddenly as he felt white hot rage flash through him.

"No one, _but no one_, dares to touch my hikari," Yami stated in a low and dangerous voice, "NO ONE!

And with that, he launched himself at the nearest shadow creature as the Sennen Eye blazed into existence on his forehead.

Flashes of light began resounding around the alley as Yami directed the powerful magic at those that had hurt Yuugi. As the light his the creatures, they exploded with a red finality and an inhumane scream that left Yami wanting more.

He wouldn't stop until they had been destroyed, all of them. Their pain was his pleasure now, and Yami was fully enjoying it.

When all had dissolved but one, Yami began stalking it like a cat after its mouse. He was in a deadly mood, only partially dampened by his concern for his hikari behind him, but nevertheless, Yami was angry. No, he was beyond angry, he was vivid with rage.

_Never again_, he vowed, _Never again will I leave Yuugi, ever._

With a final, piercing shriek, the last shadow creature flew apart as light erupted from within. Yami's face shown in the blast, becoming almost demonic in the light.

And just as quickly, all his anger was whisked away, to be replaced by absolutely anxiety for his soulmate.

"Yuugi!" Yami's cry came out choked as he ran as fast as he could, sliding to a stop inches from Yuugi's still form, deathly still.

Gently, he lifted Yuugi and propped him up in his lap. But there was still no movement, no _anything_, to say that Yuugi acknowledged the contact.

"_Yuugi_," Yami was almost sobbing by now, so terribly did he want for his light to awaken. "Yuugi, _please_...Open your eyes..."

Yuugi groaned then, and through Yami's suddenly blurred vision, he smiled down at him. Yami's heart restarted with a jolt, and he began to breath again. The presence of his Light was what kept him going, without Yuugi...Yami was _nothing_, _absolute_ nothing.

"Not real," Yuugi mumbled but Yami didn't catch it. He leaned closer and turned his hikari's face upwards to meet his own; Yuugi's eyes were still tightly shut.

"You're not real," Repeated Yuugi as Yami gasped in surprised. What was his aibou saying? "You'll just dissappear like before. I won't even be able to touch you. No," Yuugi gasped for breath, as painful reality pushed at his breaking heart, "It's better that I don't see you, then I can't be hurt when you go again!"

By now, tears were freely falling down Yuugi's cheeks and off his face, landing in Yami's lap. With a trembling breath, he reached up his hands and wiped them away.

What had happened in all the time they'd been apart? _Why_ was Yuugi so _afraid_?

"Yuugi..."Yami spoke so gently, his voice was like a caress against his Light's skin. "I _am_ real. Only open your eyes, and see."

"Can't be!"Yuugi denied, closing his eyes tighter as if Yami would force them open. Yami was about to continue when Yuugi remarked, although he wasn't sure if he was supposed to hear or not, "You're nicer than the others were, though. You're not trying to trick me, are you?"

Yami's eyes lovingly roved over Yuugi's form, trying to see where he could heal the hurt, but nothing was visible. No visible scratch marks, or bruises, or broken bones. The pain was purely psychological, but in this case, that was even worse.

"I'm _not_, Yuugi," He whispered, bringing his face closer to his Light's, "I'm not..."

As their lips met, Yuugi arched his back and gasped into Yami's mouth, who grabbed the chance to delve into Yuugi's mouth.

It was then that Yuugi's eyes flew open and were caught my Yami's gaze; they stared like that even as their lips came alive and brought the passion dormant in each other awake.

Yuugi's hands came up to grab either side of Yami's face, his fingers moving until they curled into his hair. A moan escaped Yami at the touch, his Light _did_ know what got to him.

But then, Yuugi broke the kiss, just before all control was lost. "It really is you?" His tone was questioning; he would not be able to survive another illusion.

"Yuugi," Yami's voice was low, meant for his hikari's ears alone. "It _is_ me. I will never allow us to be parted like this again, ever. _I love you, aibou."_

Something clicked in Yuugi's mind, as he connected his Dark's actions to what they're supposed to be, and how they differed from the others. It was him, it _was_ Yami, HIS Yami.

And then a light erupted from within him, to be joined by Yami's, as their bond was renewed, the barrier between their link broken apart with a thunder of power.

A sobbing cry escaped his throat as he threw himself at his Dark, wrapping himself around him as much as he could. And Yami had tears in his own eyes, and his whole body was trembling, as he finally realized how close he'd come to losing his Yuugi forever.

After what seemed an eternity, Yuugi finally leaned back enough to see into his Dark's eyes. "Yami?" His voice was a shadow of what it had been before, now whispery and cracking, "Never again, _please_," He pleaded, "Please don't leave me, I...I won't be able to bear it, I _can't_! _I love you, Yami..._"

He turned his panicked gaze onto his Dark and pleaded for Yami to understand. The pain from being apart from his other half had been unlike _anything_ he'd ever experienced. It had been white hot agony, torturing him in every way possible, and leaving scars on his fragile heart; the affects were only beginning fading now.

"And I love you, Yuugi. You're right, never again. _It just hurts too much_," His voice broke on the last word and he buried his face in Yuugi's heaving chest.

They stayed like that, Yuugi slightly rocking Yami in his lap, both calmed by the presence of the other. When Yami had calmed down enough release his death grip on Yuugi, he smiled and stood up, offering a hand to Yuugi.

Arms around each other, Yuugi smiled as Yami bent down and claimed his lips in another heart-searing kiss. And all around them, the alley disintegrated into pixels, everything flying away to be replaced by a blank whiteness that surrounded the couple.

As the whiteness threatened to claim them, Yami and Yuugi just clasped hands and walked into the bright light, letting their faith in the love they shared to guide them. _Nothing_ was going to keep them apart _ever_ again.


End file.
